Councils face a summer of discontent after a one-day strike by staff shut many services run by local authorities.

Now the three big public service unions are threatening a repetition of their action in August.

They have a point in saying low-paid workers are having problems in places with a high cost of living, such as Sussex.

But councils say they cannot increase their current offer of three per cent, which is still above the inflation rate.

Both the employers and unions have let this dispute linger so that a festering sore is in danger of becoming an ugly wound.

They must get round a table and work out a settlement, which offers a little more money for the lowest paid. Then everyone, including the hard-pressed residents who pay the bills, can go home happy.